“It felt like an odyssey imbued with divine inspiration, magnitude and benefit,” shared long-time student Murray Wright. “During the worst New Zealand drought in 65 years, Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi, Brian Rae and I offered holy crystals to bless the waters of New Zealand’s North Island this year. From the guidance received, we felt like instruments of the guru-buddhas’ compassionate activity.

“To benefit people in Bodhgaya, Lama Zopa Rinpoche commissioned glass crystals engraved with a special mantra of Guru Padmasambhava. Due to Padmasambhava’s stainless prayers impregnated with bodhichitta and wisdom, the minds of those drinking water touched by the mantra are blessed. Veteran stupa builder Tom Waggoner brought the crystals when he visited in 2011. We offered them into several large reservoirs around Auckland. An enthusiast of holy objects he said, ‘Wow, it’s so easy to create merit with these crystals. All you have to do is place them in the water!’ He urged me to ‘get some inventory’ from the FPMT Foundation Store to offer more.” …

If you cherish another person, another sentient being, there is enlightenment and you cause them to achieve every happiness. If you don’t cherish them, there is no enlightenment for you. Therefore, this person, this one sentient being, is the most precious one in one’s own life. Therefore, what is called I needs to be let go forever. And what is called other, even one sentient being, that is to be cherished forever.